News / National
Zinara takes total control of tollgates
04 Oct 2013 at 03:58hrs | Views
THE Zimbabwe National Road Administration is now in total control of tollgates after it took over from the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority with effect from Tuesday this week, ending a four-year arrangement in which Zimra was getting 10 percent of the takings.
The takeover means more money would now go into Zinara coffers after doing away with the authority for administration expenses to Zinara.
Zimra had been the sole tollgates revenue collector contracted by Zinara since August 2009 when tollgates were introduced.
Zinara has also taken over Zimra staff who used to work at the tollgates on a three-month contract, a period during which they would be assessed with a view of employing them permanently.
Director of administration Mr Precious Murove said they were concentrating on the Plumtree-Bulawayo-Harare-Mutare Highway before embarking on the expansion of other highways.
He said revenue had been improved by the introduction of a computerised system as seen by the Mazowe tollgate whose takings trebled in the past three months.
However, motorists are complaining that the computerised system is causing long queues at the tollgates where it was introduced, citing Mazowe and Shamva.
They accuse Zinara of being inefficient and installing a system that is not effective enough to deal with big numbers of vehicles.
Long queues started forming following the introduction of the new system.
To deal with the problem, Mr Murove said they were expanding the toll gates to ensure the smooth flow of traffic.
"The queues have been a result of motorists who try to negotiate for free or cheaper access or some, especially kombi drivers, who come with higher denominations and getting change might be a challenge to our staff at times," he said.
Meanwhile, Zinara has appointed Zimpost as their revenue collector for licence fees for vehicles which were reviewed recently.
Motorists have been complaining about the new licence fees which went up with effect from last Friday.
"We previously have been having five tax classes (for vehicles), but the new regulations by the minister published in Statutory Instrument 141 of 2013 now provide for 12 vehicle classes, repealing the previous classification," said Zinara chief executive Mr Frank Chitukutuku.
"The rationale behind this new publication is that vehicle licensing tariffs should be in tandem with the vehicle net mass.
"The heavy vehicles that were using our roads were paying too low compared to the damage that they were causing on the road surface and vehicle licensing is part of the 'user pays principle' whereby you pay your license fees based on the net mass of your vehicle."
The takeover means more money would now go into Zinara coffers after doing away with the authority for administration expenses to Zinara.
Zimra had been the sole tollgates revenue collector contracted by Zinara since August 2009 when tollgates were introduced.
Zinara has also taken over Zimra staff who used to work at the tollgates on a three-month contract, a period during which they would be assessed with a view of employing them permanently.
Director of administration Mr Precious Murove said they were concentrating on the Plumtree-Bulawayo-Harare-Mutare Highway before embarking on the expansion of other highways.
He said revenue had been improved by the introduction of a computerised system as seen by the Mazowe tollgate whose takings trebled in the past three months.
However, motorists are complaining that the computerised system is causing long queues at the tollgates where it was introduced, citing Mazowe and Shamva.
They accuse Zinara of being inefficient and installing a system that is not effective enough to deal with big numbers of vehicles.
To deal with the problem, Mr Murove said they were expanding the toll gates to ensure the smooth flow of traffic.
"The queues have been a result of motorists who try to negotiate for free or cheaper access or some, especially kombi drivers, who come with higher denominations and getting change might be a challenge to our staff at times," he said.
Meanwhile, Zinara has appointed Zimpost as their revenue collector for licence fees for vehicles which were reviewed recently.
Motorists have been complaining about the new licence fees which went up with effect from last Friday.
"We previously have been having five tax classes (for vehicles), but the new regulations by the minister published in Statutory Instrument 141 of 2013 now provide for 12 vehicle classes, repealing the previous classification," said Zinara chief executive Mr Frank Chitukutuku.
"The rationale behind this new publication is that vehicle licensing tariffs should be in tandem with the vehicle net mass.
"The heavy vehicles that were using our roads were paying too low compared to the damage that they were causing on the road surface and vehicle licensing is part of the 'user pays principle' whereby you pay your license fees based on the net mass of your vehicle."
Source - herald
